But borough treatment experts have been warning about the shift to heroin for years - in a 2010 feature in the Advance, young recovering addicts at the Dynamite Youth Center's residential treatment center in upstate Fallsburg, N.Y. recounted how they'd move to heroin when painkillers became too expensive.

Ms. Abbate said that since the Times piece, she's been getting Facebook correspondences asking, "Is it really that bad?"

"Yes, it is," she typically responds.

The Advance reported last October on how the borough's heroin overdose rate skyrocketed between 2010 and 2012, with 34 deaths of Island residents in 2012 compared to 14 in 2010. The death rate is higher here than in any other borough.

Add the 36 prescription painkiller deaths from 2012, and that means a Staten Islander died of a drug overdose every five days.

Luke Nasta, the executive director of Camelot Counseling Services, said he's fielded several interview requests from media since the Times story was printed, but he doubts media attention alone will address the epidemic.

"Nothing's gonna change until the governor realizes that he has a state public health emergency, and that he takes appropriate, adequate measures to address the epidemic," Nasta said. "Anything less than a full resource commitment will mean failure."